Beverley Nichols

Move over, Barry Manilow, there's a new man in my life...... the author Beverley Nichols.

I have been happily buried in the trilogy of Allways, the little village in England where Mr. Nichols had his cozy thatched-roof cottage. His first country cottage, judging by the other memoirs that I have here waiting for me to read.

This trilogy--- "Down The Garden Path," "A Thatched Roof," and "A Village In a Valley"--- three of the most wonderful books I've read this year. The village itself is so quaint, so quiet, so English.... there is just no wonder that Mr. Nichols began writing about it all. And the writing..... each sentence is perfectly written, each paragraph is just beautiful. There were pages that I had to immediately re-read when I got down to the bottom.

Finding these mostly out-of-print hardcover books has been a treasure hunt. I could have bought all new paperback re-prints on eBay, but I tried to find vintage volumes, and for less money than the newer re-prints would have cost me, I bought some First Editions from the 1930s and 1940s, which makes the books even more special. A few of them were sent to me by a bookshop in England (Any Old Books), the last three I ordered are on their way from a shop in Wales (Dusty Books). Just the names of the bookshops make me want to travel to those countries so I can spend an afternoon in each, just browsing up and down the aisles to see what other treasures they have on their shelves.

Mr. Nichols was born in 1898, passed away in 1983. In his writing life-time, he wrote 6 novels, 5 detective mysteries, 4 children's books, 6 autobiographies, 6 plays, 2 books on cats, and of course, 8 (that I'm aware of) memoirs about living and gardening and cottage-keeping in the English countryside. He also wrote books on religion and politics, his travels and his gardens. I have bought his memoirs (including two trilogies), his autobiographies, his books on cats, and a book about his life written by his long-time close friend. When I have finished reading all of these, I will consider reading the volumes on his travels, and his opinions about the various religions and politics of the world.

As I read Beverley Nichols' books, I am lining them up between bookends on my writing desk. I know I will be re-reading these volumes over the years, just as I do with my collection of books by Edith Wharton. Their writing styles are somewhat similar, in that they can both construct beautiful sentences without robbing the words of their personal flair. Mr. Nichols, however, has a subtle sense of sarcasm and humor, when the occasion calls for it, and that makes his books just terribly delicious, as he would have said.

I told my husband that we need to plan a trip to England. I would like to drive along the tiny roads of the English countryside to see small villages dotted with cottages built in the 1500s, with thatched roofs that last three hundred years, surrounded by well-planned gardens that are bursting with blooms every month of the year. (Even in winter, Mr. Nichols had flowers peeking out from underneath the scattered leaves and the occasional snows.)

I walked around the house and cottage this morning, picking pecans and being careful not to fall over the chickens and the cats as they followed me. (It looked like a little parade out there.) Beverley Nichols would have loved the rose arbors here, and the little boxed-in vegetable gardens (which became outdoor buffets for all the raccoons and skunks in the woods). Mr. Nichols, however, would have made better use of all the flowerbeds surrounding the porches and decks. Rather than just green things growing up towards the sky, Mr. Nichols would have carefully planted bulbs that would burst into bloom, giving us colorful surprises for each season.

I'm tempted to try that. But I have a feeling that the bulbs I plant would just be dug up by the raccoons and the skunks, and either carried off into the woods or nibbled right there in the flowerbed and then tossed aside after a few bites. I wonder if Mr. Nichols wrote books on keeping wildlife out of vegetable gardens and flowerbeds....